I probably have a biased opinion on these but I think these pastries could rival donuts for popularity. Of course I also think donuts taste too much like oil. I made them up to right a recipe gone wrong. I also can’t think of a name for them. I think drop pastry is descent, not offensive anyways. When I was visiting a local cave the tour guide was telling a story where she asked a student group what was their favorite part. One student said they liked the cow pie. It took the guide a little while to figure it out but she showed us a stalagmite which was what the student was talking about. At the time I was thinking that’s kinda what the drop pastry looks like. I’m not sure if a name of cow pie would turn people off or if they would take it in good humor. Anyways on to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cranberry sauce
• 2 cup cake or all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup buttermilk and more for coating
• 1 large egg

Instructions:

1. In large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
2. Mix thoroughly with whisk.
3. With chilled butter cut butter into flour mixture using a pastry knife or two knives. Batter should be crumbly.
4. Beat egg with a fork in small bowl.
5. Add buttermilk and mix well.
6. Adding buttermilk egg mixture in thirds, with spatula or spoon mix into flour butter batter. Mixture should be dry at this stage, but should be fully incorporated.
7. Add cranberry sauce and pecans.
8. Mix roughly. There should be some areas heavy with cranberry sauce and some areas heavy with batter.
9. Drop onto cookies sheet. Mixture should make 9 to 10 drop pastries. I used silicon mats. These kept the browning of the bottoms down. The brown doesn’t taste burnt. It just doesn’t look nice.
10. Liberally coat the tops of the pastries with buttermilk.
11. Place in 375 degree oven for 25 minutes.
12. Allow to cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes then cool on cooling rack.
13. Enjoy!

So I would consider it one of my hobbies to take seasonal cheap fruit and make preserves. It’s December here in Texas. The citrus fruits come into season soon. January and February are big for oranges and grapefruit. Basically the only thing that is on sale is northern fruit, that stores for a while like pears and apples, and grapes which I really don’t know where they’re coming from. Anyways seedless grapes are pretty easy for preperation. You basically just pick off the stems and throw them away. For this you will need a stick blender and a large pan. Anyways on to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 5 lbs seedless grapes
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 small limes
• Water to cover grapes in pan

Instructions:

1. Destem grapes and place in large pan.
2. Add water so all grapes are completely submerged.
3. Juice limes into mixture.
4. Cook over medium high heat until grapes are softened.
5. With stick blender liquify mixture.
6. Add sugar and stir.
7. Remove liquid from mixture until you can see empty pan behind your stirring utensil.
8. Allow to cool, package, and enjoy.

Having only been a consumer of cranberry sauce over the course of my years, I had never really made it until about a year ago when I thought it would make a good ice cream ingredient. This is a fairly simple recipe when it comes to ingredients. It does take some time to boil it down until it starts to almost gel. In fact it will gel when you refrigerate what you don’t initially use. You need a stick blender and a large pan. Anyways on to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs fresh cranberries
• 2 1/2 qt orange juice
• 1 small lime
• 2 1/2 cup granulated sugar

Instructions:

1. Place cranberries and orange juice in large pan.
2. Chop up lime peel, pith, and all and add it to mixture.
3. Cook at medium high heat until all the cranberries have popped and the lime pieces have softened.
4. With stick blender liquify contents of the pan until there are no large particles left.
5. Add sugar and stir in.
6. Now it’s basically just a process of removing the excess liquid.
7. As I’ve said in previous posts this is basically just a matter of conduction and convection.
8. Using the temperature of the burner on the stove, the amount of liquid left in the pan, and the time between stirrings as variables allow a small amount of conduction to occur which will remove the most liquid. Before you burn the carbohydrate sugar stir and reevaluate your variables.
9. When you have reached a point where you have very little liquid left remove from stove burner. One sign you will see that you are thickening is that your stirring utensil will leave trails behind it in the form of an empty portion at the bottom of the pan. Try to go slightly beyond this sign in your thickening.
10. Allow to cool. Serve or store in refrigerator until later. Enjoy!

People have been experimenting with the consistency of ice cream since there was ice cream. My recipes for ice cream started out with the most basics: cream, skim milk, sugar, and flavor. My recipes originally were stir the ingredients well and dump into the ice cream machine. I now pasteurize the mixture and then cool it in the refrigerator for a few hours. One thing I noticed when I made butter pecan based on the recipe on this site was that you blended a small amount of pecans into the ice cream basically adding protein to the casein and other proteins in the skim milk and cream. I liked the texture of the final product in this case and I’ve also made a peanut butter based ice cream which had added protein and a good consistency. You want something that will not impart an off flavor into your vanilla. For this I choose more casein in the form of dried skim milk. Due to the pasteurizing I’m doing you have opportunity to disolve this in your mixture. Anyways on to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 2/3 cup skim milk
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup dried skim milk

Instructions:

1. In medium saucepan combine all ingredients.
2. Heat slowly over low heat dissolving all ingredients until temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Remove from heat and place in refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours.
4. Prepare ice cream in ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions.
5. Serve immediately as soft serve or place in ice box for hard serve.
6. Enjoy!